Public Doesn't Want to Pay for Health Care Fix

Poll shows 49% in favor of new law, to 40% opposed

(NEWSER) - The ink is barely dry on the new health care reform law, but the public has already come around on it, says a new USA Today/Gallup poll . Among those surveyed, 48% called the law “a good first step,” saying more should be done to reform the system. Roughly half said they were either “encouraged” or “pleased” by the bill’s passage, compared to only 40% who were “disappointed” or “angry.” More»

(NEWSER) - Current health care legislation would require every American to buy health insurance, but would do little or nothing to control the skyrocketing premiums they’d have to pay, the LA Times reports. Versions of the bill try to address the problem indirectly—with a public option in the House bill and nonprofit co-ops in Baucus’s Senate bill—but no one is proposing the direct premium controls states have on other mandated insurances, like auto insurance. More»

Newt Gingrich is 20 points behind him in new poll

(NEWSER) - Mitt Romney appears poised for a crushing victory in Nevada, leading Newt Gingrich there by a whopping 45% to 25%, according to a new poll commissioned by the Las Vegas Review-Journal . Romney's total is powered by Nevada's comparatively large Mormon population, 85.5% of which says it intends to vote for him. Gingrich, meanwhile, is polling best among those who identify themselves as strong supporters of the Tea Party, with 37% to Romney's 27%. More»

Donald Berwick says 20-30% of health care spending helps no one

(NEWSER) - Between 20% and 30% of all US health care spending is pure “waste,” according to departing Medicare and Medicaid chief Donald Berwick. “Much is done that does not help patients at all, and many physicians know it,” Berwick said in an interview with the New York Times on Thursday, his last day on the job. He cited overtreatment of patients, the failure to coordinate care, complex administrative systems, burdensome regulations, and fraud as the main reasons for the “extremely high level of waste.” More»

Governors battle Washington over measure in health reform law

(NEWSER) - America's 29 states led by Republican governors are asking Washington to give them the green light to cut thousands from Medicaid—without being penalized. The health care reform law says that states that reduce eligibility for the program will lose federal funding, and these cash-strapped states (along with, quietly, some Democrat-helmed ones) want the federal government to waive the rule. More»